2005 Index
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Sportsman/National Finals October 1 - 2
Fall Nationals1st October - 2nd OctoberPoints awarded for the Wild Bunch Series Round 7 and Real Steel Round 9.
The UK National Finals was our second event of 2005 at Santa Pod, our “Fall Nationals”, and it was Wild Bunch Series Round 7 (Final) and Real Steel Round 9. There was a field of 12 Wild Bunch cars: 4 Altereds, 5 Slingshots, 2 Radicals and 1 Rear-engine dragster.
| Event Participants | ||||
| Position | WB | Driver | Car | Points |
| 1 | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Antisocial | 10 |
| 2 | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider 2 | 8 |
| 3 | 3 | Mike Cresswell | Living the Dream | 6 |
| 4 | 100 | Roy Wilding | Chariot of Fire | 4 |
| 5 | 40 | Darren Law | Wicked Lady | 3 |
| - | 76 | Steven Field | The Black Pig | 3 |
| 7 | 1 | Tony Smith | The Cunning Plan | 2 |
| - | 34 | Alec Coe & Kev Mortimer | Shy Talker | 2 |
| - | 38 | Helen Smythe | Hell's Belle | 2 |
| - | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | 2 |
| - | 147 | Sid Slattery | Destiny | 2 |
| - | 464 | Tracy Froome | Sunburst | 2 |
| Spot Prizes | ||||
| WB | Team/Driver | Car | Detail | |
| #1 Qualifier | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | .014 Off |
| Closest To Dial-In | 54 | Phil Sweeney | Antisocial | .031 |
| Quickest E.T. | 34 | Alec Coe | Shy Talker | 8.533 |
| Best Altered | 100 | Roy Wilding | Chariot Of Fire | |
| Best Slingshot | 67 | Darryl Howells | Chemical Reaction | |
| Best Radical/Dragster | 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones | Welsh Raider II | |
| Saturday The weather had been really wet on the Friday night and it was still damp Saturday morning, but the track crew had started early and were drying the track from 7:30am onwards. They worked really hard and got qualifying started by 11:00am, with a few stoppages throughout the day, including a heavy shower early afternoon. There had been scheduled to be 3 qualifying rounds, and 2 full cycles were completed (with the second one running late, meaning that the Bunch got a really fun dusk/nightime qualifier about 7pm!). In the first round of qualifying, 10 drivers took part, and all 12 took part in the second round, with all of them safely qualifying. | |
| WB 1 | Tony Smith was currently leading both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series in “The Cunning Plan” Minivan altered, and was hoping to secure another Wild Bunch Championship. He started off with a Dial-in of 11.52, and ran an 11.810 @ 107.62 mph in the first round. He changed the Dial to 11.62 for the second round and ran an 11.791 @ 107.89 mph, and qualified in 4th place overall. |
| WB 3 | Mike Cresswell in the “Living the Dream” slingshot was running 2nd in both the Wild Bunch and Real Steel Series, right behind Tony, and was keen to improve his position from that of his rookie season. He dialled in at 11.25 for his first qualifier and ran a good first run of the day with an 11.208 @ 111.67 mph. He lowered the Dial-in for the second round, and bogged off the line, recording an 18.539 @ 111.39 mph. He qualified in 12th place. |
| WB 29 | Tony Wynne-Jones was running his “Welsh Raider 2” Radical Corvette and hoping to have cured some previous misfiring problems. He Dialled in at 11.20 in the 1st round of qualifying and exactly equalled his previous PB with a great 11.214 @ 117.77 mph! He then lowered the Dial to 11.00 seconds even and posted an 11.290 @ 117.51 mph, and qualified in the Number 1 Spot! |
| WB 34 | Alec Coe was raring to go in the Mad R's “Shy Talker” blown slingshot, and was keen to take the car's best time record back from son Tom! He dialled in at 8.30 in the first round, and ran an 8.932 @ 147.08 mph on a conservative first run for the car at the Pod. He kept the same Dial for the second round, and ran a strong 8.533 @ 161.23 mph, which earned him the “Quickest E.T.” Spot Prize for the best Wild Bunch time of the weekend. Alec qualified in 7th place overall. |
| WB 38 | saw Helen Smythe piloting the Team Twisted “Hell's Belle” altered, and by her attendance at all events she had now leapfrogged into 3rd place in the Wild Bunch Series, ahead of Chris Hartnell, who was unfortunately absent due to block damage in the “Backdraft” slingshot. She had finished in 5th place in the WB Series in her rookie year in 2004, and was keen to improve on her placing this year. Hubby and crew chief Dean had been gradually tuning the car back up since the Summer Nationals, and Helen had progressed back down to the low 10's/high 9's mark, and this weekend the team were really going for it again. Helen dialled in at 9.40 in the first round of qualifying, and ran a 9.994 @ 133.18 mph. She increased the Dial for the second round, and recorded a similar 9.904 @ 134.31 mph, and qualified in 8th place. |
| WB 40 | Darren Law was running “The Wicked Lady” sparkly Rear-engined dragster and he dialled in at 9.75 for the first round of qualifying. Darren put in a troubled 13.718 @ 103.21 mph and the team set to working on the problems. Darren later ran an improved 11.373 @ 125.64 mph on the same Dial in the second round, and qualified in 10th place overall. |
| WB 54 | was Phil Sweeney's first ever time at Santa Pod with his “Antisocial” slingshot. He had won the first MSA event he had entered, the Allstar Nationals, so was hoping to do well again this weekend. He dialled in at 12.98 for the first round, hoping to dip into the 12's for the first time. He recorded a 13.664 @ 93.92 mph, trying to get a handle on the track. He then changed the Dial to 13.25 and posted a better 13.459 @ 95.90 mph in the second round, qualifying in 5th place. |
| WB 67 | Darryl Howells was in his first event at Santa Pod this year with the beautiful D.A.S.H. Racing “Chemical Reaction” slingshot. He dialled in at 10.10 for the first qualifier and ran a 10.390 @ 130.05 mph. He later raised the Dial to 10.20 and ran a 10.427 @ 131.17 mph, to qualify in 6th place overall. |
| WB 76 | was Steve Field's first ever race at Santa Pod with “The Black Pig” altered. He posted a 10.05 Dial-in and ran a 10.194 @ 129.59 mph in the first round, and a very consistent 10.191 in the second, on the same Dial, and qualified in 3rd place. |
| WB 100 | saw Roy Wilding in his first event at Santa Pod for over 12 years, and the first time he had brought one in a long line of “Chariot of Fire” race cars to the Pod. He dialled in at 11.82 for his first effort, and ran a 12.492 @ 109.19 mph, familiarising himself with the track. He then Dialled in at 11.85 and ran 11.980 @ 111.61 mph, and qualified in a good 2nd place overall. |
| WB 147 | was also Sid Slattery's first time at Santa Pod with his beautiful “Destiny” slingshot. With the team this weekend was the original car builder and driver Richard Dawson, and he soon got stuck in to some crewing for the team! Sid dialled in at 10.60, but unfortunately did not make the run, due to a fuel surge after the burnout. He kept the same Dial for the second round, and qualified safely in 9th place with a 12.101 @ 76.92 mph. |
| WB 464 | saw yet another Santa Pod debut, this time for Tracy Froome in the old-style Monza-bodied “Sunburst” funny car. He and the team brought the car round for the first qualifier, but had to shut down after the burnout. He then dialled in at 10.10 for the second round, and ran a problematic 16.436 @ 65.38 mph, to qualify in 11th place overall. |
| Sunday (Race Day) All 12 Wild Bunch cars had qualified for race day and there were due to be 6 good races in the first round, and we were scheduled to be on track by about 11am. The weather and track conditions had improved, which eventually resulted in a fair few breakouts! The day remained cool but dry, and all eliminations took place, with the event even finishing early, thanks to better weather and some efficient work by the officials and track crew. Round 1 The first race saw Tony Wynne-Jones paired up with Alec Coe. Their reaction times were similar, and with Tony leaving the line first and running an 11.275 on an 11.18 Dial-in, he proved too hard to catch, as Alec ran an 8.933 on an 8.20 Dial. (On this run, Alec recorded 164.16 mph, the fastest speed of the Bunch for the weekend.) The next race saw Roy facing Helen. Helen had struggled with a very bad cold all weekend, and on this run she posted a great 9.748 @ 126.10 mph, but broke out on 9.88 Dial-in, handing the win to Roy who posted a 12.269 @ 111.91 mph on an 11.80 Dial. The next race saw a huge upset when Tony Smith broke out by just .027, recording an 11.593 @ 101.78 mph on an 11.62 Dial, to opponent Darren Law's 11.773 on a 10.75 Dial. This left the door open for Mikey Cresswell to try to take the WB Championship, if he was able to progress to the Semi-finals! In the next good match up, Steve Field faced Sid Slattery, and only one of them could take their first round win at the Pod! Sid left first, but had electrical problems, recording an 11.575 on a 10.55 Dial, whilst Steve took his first ever round win with a 10.481 on a 10.05 Dial-in to advance to the quarter-finals. The next race saw Tracy Froome hoping to iron out some problems in the “Sunburst” funny car, and for a short while, it looked like he was going to have a solo, as opponent Phil Sweeney could not fire his slingshot, due to battery problems. Girlfriend Abby raced to the rescue to find the jump leads, but in the meantime, stand-in crew ‘Crazy’ Chris tried another battery, to no avail, and then bump-started the car, which then fired ready to roll! Phil then put in a 13.897 on his 13.40 Dial to take the win over Tracy's troubled 16.079 on a 10.10 Dial. Hope Tracy can bounce back soon, and get rid of the gremlins. The last race then saw Darryl Howells paired with championship contender Mike Cresswell in a battle of the slingshots, which soon turned into a battle of the breakouts, as Darryl recorded a very strong 10.156 @ 127.82 mph on his 10.30 Dial, whilst Mike just took the win by .035, with an 11.091 on an 11.20 Dial. Darryl had still been pleased with his weekend, and was awarded the “Best Slingshot” trophy by the commentators for his lovely-painted rail and a good performance. Quarter-Finals This round saw 3 good races, and featured 4 breakouts! The first pairing was Tony Wynne-Jones against Darren Law. Darren had adjusted his Dial-in to 11.65 to compensate for some fuelling problems he had been having. He ended up running better than expected, recording an 11.332 @ 123.55 mph, whilst Tony also broke out in the other lane, with a new Personal Best E.T. of 11.077 @ 120.65 mph, on his 11.18 Dial-in! This lesser breakout meant Tony was through to the Semi-finals where he earnt a Bye-run! The next race saw Roy facing newcomer Phil. Roy ran a breakout 11.713 on an 11.80 Dial-in which handed the victory to Phil who ran a great 13.431 on a 13.40 Dial-in. This was also good for the “Closest to Dial-in” of the day, with just .031 off, and meant Phil was through to another Semi-final! Roy finished the day in 4th place after this run, as he recorded the closest to Dial-in of the quarter-final runners-up, and he was also very pleased to be awarded the “Best Altered” Spot Prize by the commentators for his well-turned out machine! The last race of the round saw Steve Field paired with Mike Cresswell. Steve went straight out and ran a great 9.922 @ 110.07 mph, but broke out on his 10.05 Dial-in, so Mikey took another win with an 11.104 on a 10.98 Dial. Semi-Finals The first semi-final saw Tony taking his Bye run. He was therefore free to go for a good time against his 11.00 second Dial-in, and he sure did that, recording his first ever 10-second pass with a great 10.911 @ 120.95 mph, very near his best speed ever. Tony was as thrilled with this as he was with getting to the Final! The only race of the round then saw Mike pitted against Phil. At this point, all Mikey had to do was stage and break the beam to take the Wild Bunch Championship, and this he did and more, recording a great new Personal Best E.T. of 10.952 @ 118.36 mph, breaking out on his 10.98 Dial. Phil only had to stay the right side of his 13.40 Dial-in to progress to his second Final in as many events, and he managed this with a good 13.541 @ 83.37 mph! Mike finished 3rd for the event and took the WB Championship by just one point! Congratulations, Mikey! Fair play! Final The final saw a good matchup between Tony and Phil, with Phil leaving first on his 13.40 Dial-in. He had a good reaction of .109 and ran close to his Dial with a 13.474. This proved too much of a headstart, as Tony raced down the track after him, and recorded an 11.052 on a 10.90 Dial-in. This meant that Phil took another event victory, so congratulations to him! Tony was also thrilled as he was awarded the “Best Radical/Dragster” Spot Prize by the commentators for his well-turned out car and a really great performance, his best weekend of the year! Another great event where the weather turned out in our favour. Well done to all the teams for their good performances and for putting on a good showing over the weekend. And we would just like to say a really big thanks to all the hardworking marshals and officials, for all their efforts to keep racing going as much as possible on Saturday, enabling everyone to get 2 qualifiers in. Thanks also to everyone at Santa Pod for their continuing hospitality and making us feel really welcome! We really enjoyed racing there! With the Wild Bunch Series now concluded, we have Mike emerging as the Champion, Tony in a valiant second, Helen in an impressive third and ‘Crazy’ Chris in a strong fourth place! So congratulations to all of them on a great season! The next event is the “Fall Showdown” at Shakey on 15th & 16th October. This will be the Final round of the Real Steel Series andTony is still leading this over Mikey. Hope to see you there! | |